Amusment apparatus



Jilly 10, 1923. 11161322 7 H F. MAYNES AMUSEMENT APPARATUS File d Dec.3. 1921 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Julyloflszs; 1,461,322

H. F. MAYNES AMUSEMENT APPARA'iUS Filed Dec. 1921 '5 Sheets-Sheet 2 JawJuly 10, 1923. 1,461,322

H. F. MAYNES AMUSEMENT APPARATUS Filed Dec. 5. 1921 V s Sheets-Sheet 5 MA TTORNE Y5 July 10,1923.

' H. F. MAYNES AMUSEMENT APPARATUS Filed Dec. 1921 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 NTO' A TTORNE Y5 Jul 10, 1923. 1,461,322

' H. F. MAYNES AMUSEMENT APPARATUS I Filed Dec. 5. 1921 5 Shuts-Sheet 52 INVENTOR.

all mama e which it 1921, in which Patented July. 10, 1923.

UNITED STATES,

a -HYLA FREDERICK may concern: Be it knownthat I,' HYLA F. MA 'citizen'of the, siding'at State'of P tain new t, in which the are moving.Various effectscan be obtained. 'byvaryingf the relative movement ofcars and tunnels.

It is an obj provide certain improved me ans for"sup-' porting andoperating both tu Thus in th specific embodiments of the 'inventionshown in the patent,v tunnel run upon trackways. the present inventionmeans both cars and for moving the tunnel alone or both tunnel and carsby means radiating from a central point. It is a further object of thisinvention toprovide novelmeans for collapsing the tunnel, and raisingits sides so that access may be had to th obj ctof the invention toprovidenewmeans for mounting cars or V a a trackway, so that they canattain high speeds and yet befree from the danger .of jumping thetrackway5 either laterally or vertically. i

Certain preferred embodiments of the in-. vention are disclosed in th Idrawingsand are 'describedin the following description. In thes drawingsFig. 1 is a plan view of an apparatus constructed in I accordance withthls invention" showing a.

trackway, cars upon the trackway and the movable tunnel in'collap sedcondition); Fig. 2,..is a plan view ofthe same apparatus with the tunnelexten'ded'to completely. cover the trackway'and enclose the cars Fig.3is a vertical section on an" enlarged scale taken on line 33 of Figl 2;Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view taken; alonglin'e 4-4 of Fig. 3, andshowing on still a larger scale -the Application filed December UnitedStates of America re i in f the county "of Tioga,

invented cer- 1 Improvements in.

hereby clearf e art to use the with the tunnel partly cars themselves Fect of'the present invention to nnel andcars.

According to 1 are provided 1 e cars. It is a furthera movable tunnelupon e accompanying the lower face of platform 6 upon a series ofrollers 11.- Rotation of the.

MAYNES, or'e INEs-rnNNsYLvAmA. I

a, 1 2i. Serial 519,585.

partly in section, evlce inwhich b0 point;

dificati'on in ing another mo nel and cars are Fig.

F ig. 9 and form of d Fig. 12. Referring AMUSEMENT APrAaA'T s. I'

which b'oth tun f" operated from a i central. point but are alsosupported 1 10 a detail .view takenfonf showing thefcams fragmentarysection taken along line 1g. 12 "is a vertical section mechanism wherebyth'e tunfielis collapsed; of a modii I th; cars and f designates anannular trackway upon which,"v

ated

way and enclose lthfe ,cars, 'made' up of a 'serles' frames 17 enpporting the walls of T is-tunnel is supported,

about a central, bearingl8 and Thisjtunnel, is of U-shaped'supnorting.

bymeans of anannular rail 9 situated upon.

turntable is effecte I d by means '12 to-the shaft of which is connecteda pin- '100 lapsed as follows: Atlthecenterfof the an d aturntable 4.

is supported.

ions 31 and 32. By means of ion 13 engaging an annular rack 14 on thelower face of the platform 6.

Radiating from the upper platform 5 are a series of rods or adjustablearms 15, the outer ends of which slidably engage apertured blocks 16which are fastened to the U- shaped supports 17 which constitute therigid and shape-defining members of the tunnel. connected by means ofsleeves 18. The outer part is rigidly secured to one end of this sleevewhile the inner part is slidably mounted therein for a purpose whichwill be described later. Secured to each sleeve is a bracket 19 in whicha roller 21 is j ournaled This roller is designed to run upon an annulartraclrway 22 within ant. concentric with the trackway 1 supported upon aseries of standards 23. a

The inner ends of rods 15 are turned downwardly and are journaled withinthe lattorm 5, as s own in Figs. 3 and i. Se-

cured'to the lower ends of these extensions otthe two rods which supportthe ends of the tunnel are pinions 24. Rotatably mounted upon the shaft7 is a gear 25 driven by a motor 26 on platform 6 through beveledpinions 27 and pinion 28. One of the pinions 241 is operativelyconnected to gear 25 by means of one intermediate pinion 29 while theother pinion 2 1 isconnerted to the gear 25 by means of two intermediatepinthe train of tears just described and clearly shown in Fig.%L,,countercloclrwise rotation of gear 25 results in moving the arms 15to collapse the tunnel while clockwise rotation of gear 25 hastheopposite result.

The operation of this form of the device is as follows: Supposing thatthe apparatus is in the condition shown in Fig. 1 with the entire tunnelcollapsed and occupying little less than one quadrant of the entiretrackway. The traclrway is then open and the passengers may enter thecars without difficulty. The cars having been filled are started aroundthe trackway. The motor 26 is then started and the tunnel extended untilits two ends meet, as shown in Fig.2. This condition having beenattained, stopped. (Automatic means may be employed for shutting off thecurrent when the tunnel is completely extended.) Rotation of the tunnelas a. whole is then effected by means of motor 12. The necessity formaking the arms 15 in two parts and slidably connected by means of asleeve will be evident from a comparison of Figs. 1 and, 2. The distancebetween the traclrway 22 and the inner end of the rods 15 varies withthe condition of the tunnel and some means forv allowing for this changemust be provided. The sleeve 18 permits the necessary elongation andcontraction,

e o m 95 de ice ho n i Fi 5- is The rods 15 are made in two parts motor26 is e t c t that j t described. with h exception that the flattraokway is -replaced by an undulating trackway 33 and the annulartrackway 22 by an undulating trackway 3d, the undulations ofthe twobeing coincident so that as the cars rise the tunnel likewise goes upwith them. This form has necessitated a placing of joints 35 within rods15.

In the form shown operated precisely as described above. Here,

in Fig. T the tunnel is however, the cars lnstead of being propelled bytheir own power are iovedby means of radial arms 36 secured .to a secondturntable 37 and drivenby means of a motor 38 pinion 39 and annular rack.41. In this form of device the motor 12 which rotates the tunnel isplaced heneaththe turntable 37 and is connected to the turntable '4. bymeans of a shaft 12 extending through the turntable 37.

Referring now toFigs. 8, 9, 10 and 11,9.

form of the device is shown in which both tunnel and cars are supportedfrom and operated by a centrally located mechanism the whole beingsupportedupion a car 43. Secured to the platform 4A of this, car is asleeve 45, at theupper end of which is -se-- v d6 to be described indetail later, Extending through this sleeve, .415 is a hollow shaft 46,to-the upper endof cured a cam member 47. From this arms d8 extend whichis fixed aplatform platform a series of radial and support the tunnel4:9.

r-otat edby means of a worm 52 which re? ceives itspower from a pulley53, said pulley and pulley 59 noted below being I driven by any usualmeans. I I Journaled about the lower end of sleeve 45 is an annular rackmember 5 1 from which radiate a. series of trussed arms 55 which VSecured to the lower end of shaft 46, is a worm 1 wheel 51v By means .ofthis device it is possible to dispense with all trackways and supportand operate both tunnel and cars from a central point. As in the couldbe moved in one direction and the cars in another. The apparatus asshown in Fig.

9 is provided with means for doing more It 1s provided :with meansforthan this. causing both tunnel and cars to. undulateyas the use oftraclgways.

other device the tunnel in the device shown in 5, but without Theperiphery of cam member 1 6 is a camhaving three raised portions 61.Secured to extensions ofarms {l8 arerollsrs 62 designed to contact withthe periphery of cam meme her d6 varying the movement otthe tunnel.

Thus. as the tunnel tral aris'fthe rollers fig'ride up uponportionsrevolves about the eeri and 3 a-undn ation the. uaael imovement, the arms 48 being pivoted to the 47 at 63. In order tomaintain the 1 tunnel walls are maintained vertical as it cars and arepivoted at provided at their inner rollers 71 which make contact with acam rises and falls.

The cam member 46 also causes the cars to undulate. The arms 55 whichsupport the 68 "to the annular rack 54 are extended upwardly as at 69and 72. This cam, as shown in Figs. 9 and 10, is designed to complementthe peripheral cam of member 46, so that as outwardly upon cam surfaces61 the rollers 71 move inwardly upon the flattened surfaces of cam 72.Both tunnel and cars are therefore raised and lowered at the same pointand at the same time. In order to maintain the cars in a verticalundulatory movement they are pivotally supported at 73 to the arms 55and a second parallel arm 74 likewise pivoted to the car at one end andto a rigid arm carried by member 54 at the other. In order to preventthe tipping of the cars at any time should link 74 become disengaged,either during movement or loading, pins 75 are provided which would bearagainst arms 55 and serve as safety stops. They do not, however,interfere with the undulatory movement of the cars.

In order to remove the tunnel to enable the passengers to enter andleave the cars, means are provided for raising the outer side walls. Theouter side walls of the tunnel 49 are reinforced by a series of annularrings 76. By means of a cable 77 operated by means of a drum or seriesof drums 78 mounted on the lower face of worm wheel 51, it is ossible toraise and lower these side walls when occasion demands it. i

In Figs. 12 and 13 novel means are shown for preventing either a car ortunnel from leaving the trackwa even at high speeds. A car 80 is shown,provided with a truck 81. The wheels 82 are in pairs and are mounted sothat their axes are at an angle to each other. The rails 83 of thetrackway are shown as square in cross section and mounted upon adiagram, so that the wheels run upon the upper and lower inclined faces;I

The wheels of the trucks supporting the tunnel are similarly mountedandrideupon the outer inclined faces of the rail. It is clear that such acar and such a tunnel can attain high speeds and yet make relatively.

and a rod 648 By these means the a novel coupling device.

rearward cross bars of the truck are proextremities with the .rollers 62rideposition during thisfcar, a tunnel'adapted during loading and un-.

'tached to the tunnel, and m car and move relative without dangerofjumping the track; All

prlor constructions designed to attain this end haveemployedthreerwheels in a set, one i to support thecar, one to prevent lateraldis accomplished this only two Wheels. t r a I In these Figs."12 and 13I have also shown same result by the use of,

vided with sockets 84'comprising two sep rableblocksj87 "designed toseat one end of a-link 85,'this, link being provided at each endwith aball 86. Such a joint permits perfect flexibility of movement, is simpleand safe.

Although certain preferred embodiments of the invention have been shownand described, it will be clear that various modifications might be madewithout departing from the spiritof the invention which is,'of course,not limited to thestructural details shown.

.I claim: i

placement and- 0mm preventvertical dis- I placement; 5 Bythedevicetshown I have 75 The'forwardand 1. An amusement apparatuscomprising a to enclose the car and move relative thereto, centrally ofthe apparatus for moving the tunnel. c,

2. An amusement apparatus comprising a car designed to traverse asubstantially cir cular path, a tunnel car and move relative thereto,and arms radiating from the center of the path controlling the movementof the tunnel.

3. An amusement apparatus comprising a substantially circular trackway,ed to run upon said trackway, a tunnel adapted to enclose the car andmove relative thereto, a turntable at the center of thetrackway,armsradiating from said turntable and attached to'the tunneL'and meansfor rotating the turntable to move the tunnel. i V

4. An amusement apparatus comprising a substantially circular trackway,a car adapted to run upon said trackway, a collaplsilole tunnel adaptedto enclose the cal an move relative thereto, a turntable at the centerof thetrackway, arms radiating from said turntable pivoted thereto andateans for swinging the arms about their pivots to collapse and extendthe tunnel;

adapted to enclose the I I a car'adapt A-n amusement-apparatuscomprising a car designedto traverse a substantially circular path, atunnel adapted to enclose the dia'ting from the. center vof the pathcontrolling the movemen of the tunnel and the car.

car, a tunnel adapted to enclose the car and;

thereto,- and arms ra- 1 6. An amusement apparatus comprising a moverelative thereto, means situated centrally of the apparatus for movingthe tun nel and means for raising the side Walls of the tunnel to permitaccess to the ears.

7. An amusement apparatus comprising a car designed to traverseesubstantially circular path, a tunnel adapted to enclose the car andmore relative thereto, arms radiat ing from the center of the pathcontrolling In testimony whereof I aflix my signature,

HYLA FREDERICK MAYNES'.

